A travel agent has taken personal service to another level by flying out to join a group of 120 customers in person on their holiday in Tunisia.
It is the third annual trip Not Just Travel agent Illesh Amlani has booked for the group of friends and family from an Indian community based across the UK and in the US.
In 2022, he booked 105 members of the group for a holiday in Izmir, followed by a booking for a group of 90 to Majorca in 2023.
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For the latest booking, the agent and his wife, Rinx Amlani, who also works for their homeworking agency Travel Eclipse, dealt with passengers in separate groups for the easyJet holidays booking, which included checking them all in for flights and sending boarding passes by email and WhatsApp to all clients.
“It took my wife and I four evenings from 7pm until 10pm to go through all the passport information and triple-check it,” he said.
Illesh then flew to Tunisia to thank the group for their repeat custom and to assist during their stay last month at the Iberostar Selection Royal El Mansour hotel in the coastal resort of Mahdia.
It was the first time he had met the customers properly.
“I spent three nights with them and then took a family holiday straight after,” he said.
“It could have been a bit risky, as I didn’t know them, but they were such a fun, crazy gang.”
Illesh, who had also visited the property prior to the trip, said being on hand meant he could liaise with hotel management to move some clients to sea-view rooms and arrange exclusive entertainment nights in the hotel’s nightclub.
“We had a Bollywood night and on one of the days I came up with the idea of sunset cocktails and the hotel did canapes and drinks for everyone with just two days’ notice,” he said.
“The hotel couldn’t do enough for us – they even let some clients cook Indian food in the hotel kitchen.”
The group also held an Indian festival day in traditional attire and an Indian karaoke night.
Illesh is already planning the group’s 2025 trip, saying: “I’ve suggested a cruise as we have booked three beach holidays now.
“We will start discussing in October for next year.”